by John Kelly
Brad Murphy was perplexed. What to do? His meeting the previous evening with Rosie Fitzgibbon was still fresh in his mind. Rosie, he was convinced, was telling the truth. She had revealed the criminal nature of the events of 1974, and the principal person involved, Julie Macleod. By doing that, however, she had exposed her son-in-law James, to the possibility of a criminal prosecution should the matter be reported to the police. Having Julie Macleod prosecuted would by association require James to be prosecuted. Brad felt that Julie should be prosecuted. He kept thinking about the body found at the Aston Park office. It was probably a homeless old man, looking for shelter for the night. 'Did Julie have anything to do with that fire?' he asked himself. It was likely also, Brad thought, that Rosie herself could be proceeded against, as an accessory after the fact. 'Why, therefore,' Brad asked himself, 'would Rosie tell him all that she did, if it wasn't true?' Brad was convinced Rosie wanted only what was best for Mary Therese. The information she had revealed however, directly implicated Warwick Steedman in what seemed a bizarre twist. Why did he travel to Cairns and warn Rosie off? Was he trying to cheat Mary Therese out of her inheritance? Brad wondered if the whole idea of Warwick asking him to help find Mary Therese, was nothing more than a smoke screen. Something he could produce as evidence of his genuine attempts to find her. 'I'll bet he never thought that I would go on television and ask people to come forward. He never expected that I would come into contact with Rosie,' Brad thought.
Brad was on his way home. As the water taxi neared the One Mile Jetty, he thought a day or two walking along Deadman's beach with Fixem and Mixem would help clear his head of the information overload he was experiencing. Perhaps then he could decide on a course of action. It was Friday midday, and beach lovers had begun pouring on to the island for the weekend. As the water taxi eased its way to the dock, he noticed his daughter Sonia, waving. She had come to pick him up and drive him home. He waved to her. She waved back and minutes later the two were in her car, heading for Point Particular.
"The phone has been running hot," she said. "A lady rang from Cairns. Her name was Rosie. You're not having an affair are you?" she joked. Brad grinned. The suggestion triggered a mental image of Rosie in his mind. "No," he laughed. "She's in her sixties. A bit old for me, I'm afraid."
"I don't know," Sonia joked. "I've read stories about men in their forties being attracted to older women," she said with a sarcastic tone of voice. "Well, not this man in his fifties," Brad replied. "Who else rang?" he asked. "The studio! Your boss I think. Mum has the detail," Sonia answered.
"Anyone else?" he asked. "Yes another woman. What are you up to? Her name was Elizabeth Stafford. She sounded very nice. Another sixty plus is she?" Sonia persisted. "No, she's actually in her seventies," Brad replied. "What is this sudden interest in my sex life? Are you trying to make me feel as if the world is passing me by?" he asked jokingly. "We're doing the middle-aged man in Psychology at the moment. I'm using you as my template," she replied.
"Your template, wow! I didn't realise Psychology had gone computer speak," he laughed.
"Anyway," Sonia said, "Elizabeth just rang to say she saw you on television mentioning something about Irene and James someone, and wanted to know if you had any luck."
"Okay, that's easy to handle," he replied.
As they motored along, and the magnificent panorama of the Pacific Ocean came into view, Brad wondered what Rosie Fitzgibbon wanted to discuss. His mind was constantly turning the information, over and over again. When they arrived home, the dogs went wild with excitement, as the car pulled into the driveway. He would have spent the rest of the afternoon with them, but Brad's mind was pre-occupied with the call from Rosie. Disentangling himself, he went straight inside and called her.
"What is it? What did you want?" he asked. "I just wanted to let you know that I've just had a call from Julie Macleod, Rosie said, "the manager of the 'Western Family Agency'. She's in a bit of a panic. They still haven't identified the body found in the fire at the old agency office, and she told me something that she obviously didn't tell you, when you spoke with her last week," Rosie said.
"What was that?" Brad asked.
"She said that a few days before you called on her, she received a visit from someone else," Rosie answered.
"Who?" Brad asked impatiently.
"Warwick Steedman," she answered. Brad was shocked.
"What did he want with her?' he asked.
"He gave her the same warning he gave me. Don't make any contact with anyone about Andrea Steedman or he would have her arrested. He also insisted on her handing over all the files she had, on the Mary Therese Steedman adoption," Rosie said.
"What did Julie do?' Brad asked. "She told him there were no files, that the whole matter had been 'tidied up' years ago. But she said he didn't believe her and he threatened her again." Brad fell silent, trying to work things out.
"Are you still there?" Rosie asked. "Yes," Brad replied quietly, resigned to the truth of the matter. "Do you know what that means?" Rosie asked. She didn't wait for a reply. "That means that Warwick Steedman was making sure that whatever he had planned, he didn't want any last minute interruptions. Now do you believe me?" she said.
34.
